Protecting Bronco from rusting out

leo

leo

Well-known member
I'm in the process of finding a used Bronco from a part of the country where roads are not salted and the climate is such that vehicles rusting out is not a common problem. But bringing back to a place where rusting out usually kills a vehicle before anything else does is. It appears that Broncos tend to rust at the rear of the bed and around the wheel wells, much like the Ford pickups built on the same platform. Recommendations please, Zeibart or ??? I really don't want to lose this one to the rust monster...:confused:
 
When I lived in the rust belt, every new car I bought was taken to Ziebart within a week of buying. Its a wonderful product.
 
Ziebart was used mostly on new cars where the underbody was not dirty. I guess with a properly cleaned underbody it can be done with an older vehicle.

The best solution is to pull the body off, strip it, primer it with epoxy primer and paint. Undercoat if you want over that. Undercoat should be applied thinly for best protection as a heavy application can create air pockets.

No matter what you put on the underside, it will have to thoroughly cleaned for anything to stick.

Another solution is not to drive it on salted roads.
 
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Even if you have it ziebarted you won't get any warranty because it is used it will help though ziebart does creep into the seams around the wheels that tend to rust out also i think there is a plastic liner in the wheel well that holds the dirt and moisture
 
Tailgates and door hedges doors are to heavy and the dash panel for four wheel drive known bake also v/8 valve covers are leakers dont pay to much goodluck
 
just another thought maybe bedliner material they spray everything with this stuff mythbusters did a segment where they sprayed a block wall and set an explosive charge off no damage the unsprayed wall was destroyed
 
Salty road slush wicks it's way into seams and crevices that undercoating cannot reach. Though the moisture may dry out, the salt remains and is reactivated whenever it gets wet again, whether from humidity or splashing through puddles on a rainy summer day-even from a high pressure car wash. Through the years dust normally accumulates inside the rocker panels, door pillars, tailgate, etc. This dust buildup (which contains salt if you ever drive it in winter) holds moisture even longer.
PS Be careful if you look for a vehicle from Arizona! I-40 across northern Arizona is mostly above 5,000 ft. (up to 7,000 ft.) and sees a lot of snow and ice in winter. We salt to the tune of 300 lbs. per lane per mile per application and the spreaders are out day and night during storms. Also I-17 (main route between Flagstaff and Phoenix) gets salted about halfway to Phoenix and those flatlanders swarm up to Flag in their SUV's to play in the snow.
 
You guys are great, thanks for the input. From what I've heard it is probably next to impossible to find a Bronco with no rust on it. Please tell me something about Bronco frame rust weakness. Is sheet metal the only thing I need to be concerned with when it comes to rust?
 
Any metal subject to salt and moisture is subject to rust, frame included.

leo said:
You guys are great, thanks for the input. From what I've heard it is probably next to impossible to find a Bronco with no rust on it. Please tell me something about Bronco frame rust weakness. Is sheet metal the only thing I need to be concerned with when it comes to rust?
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Are you looking for a "real" Bronco ("66-'77) or a later pickup-based wannabe? The These real Broncos had the usual rocker panel, floor and tailgate rust out problems, but be especially on the lookout for rusted out door pillars. They rust from the inside out and then the doors sag real bad. They were open to road spray under the front fenders and would get filled with salt/sand/dirt mix, so they went pretty fast in the Rust Belt. Not so bad here in Arizona. I picked up a '69 years ago (before they went crazy with salt) and it's still solid. The frames seem to be a lot better. I did a few with pretty bad body rust back in Minnesota and the frames were not a problem (but they were only 5-8 years old then).
 
Glad you brought this up. Here in Canada we have an excellent rustproofing system called Rust Check. It is a liquid and creeps into crevices and areas that heavier type undercoating won't go. Is it available in the U.S.?
 
So if the Bronco is clean, with no rust out showing along the bottom of the front fenders, rockers, around the rear wheels, end of the bed behind the rear bumper, frame and there are no bubbles in the paint outside these areas is it possible to prevent any future rust? Anyone know what this Rust Check from Canada is?
 
I used to be into Broncs about 20 yrs ago before the prices went crazy. Probably owned about 10 to 12 over the years including rusted out parts trucks. The strange thing is that some had rotted out door hinge posts but solid door striker posts, others were the other way around with good hinge posts and bad striker posts. IMO, the earlier year trucks that I found seemed to be the most solid, rust wise. Those were a 66 and 67. I had several 73s and 74s, one 76 and a 77, all had rust. The frame of the 76 rusted through from the inside out between the rear spring perches. They were boxed frames so very hard to rustproof unless you drill a bunch of holes and spray oil inside. I tend to think the early production couple of years that Ford was using a better quality of steel, but this is just conjecture based on the collection of junk that I amassed during that chapter of my Ford collecting disease, known at the time as Broncitis. The kicker is that the later year trucks had the more desirable options such as auto ******, power steering, power disk brakes, so I guess my view of the perfect Bronco is an early one (for the good steel) with the available add ons of the later ones.
 
I could be missing something, but: Do you plan to drive or have your pride 'n joy sit outside in the middle of Jersey winters? If so, no comment. If not, and the vehicle is rust-free to this point, what exactly are you worried about?
 
Hi Russonator, I bought a 1991 Bronco with an original 20,000 miles on it and I intend to drive it, maybe 10,000 miles a year. I'm trying to determine how to best protect it from rusting out. Thanks for your interest.
 
modeleh said:
I tend to think the early production couple of years that Ford was using a better quality of steel, but this is just conjecture based on the collection of junk that I amassed during that chapter of my Ford collecting disease
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You may not be conjecturing. I was visiting with a Ford body engineer over the weekend and the subject of late '60s-'70s Fords and premature rot-out came up. He noted that during that time Ford was using recycled steel from a plant in PA that he worked at which had a higher than normal content of impurities, sulfur or some other item added as part of the smelting/reconstitution process. The steel would literally rust from the inside out was his recollection, and that this problem wasn't uncovered until well after the steel had been in use for several years. Add to this the problems Ford had with enamel paint going bad after a few years and you can understand why people were reluctant to 'buy American' by the end of the '70s.
 
Interesting comments regarding the recycled steel from someone who was involved with production at the time. I guess we are all lucky that arguably Ford's best styled cars of the 60s from 60-66 may have been built with a better grade of steel than the later part of the decade.
 
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